stay with me
by Maryssah Maiden of Pulchritude
Summary: It's at a cross-roads where he meets her. But he's met her before... "I may not know it's you, and you may not know it's me..." AU, kairoku, OOC, character death. I don't own it.


_**staywithme - - s t a y w i t h m e . . .**_

_**//and nothing will (ever) be the same again**_

"_I may not know it's you, and you may not know it's me…"_

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

"**Sora?"**

The question pierced the still night air, making the blonde boy turn sharply around. His angry blue eyes lock with hopeful indigo and he can't help but shrink back at the love in those eyes. A memory bubbles up from the depths of his subconscious -- _"Get up, you lazy bum!"_ -- and he can remember, from a lifetime away, when he was happy with this girl he does not know.

"**I'm not."**

Tears well up in her eyes, her tiny hands clench at her sides, and a sob gets caught in the back of her throat. **"No,"** she whispers, unchecked tears spilling over. She shakes her head, slowly at first, but the more she cries the faster it gets. **"NO!"** she cries again, her hair slapping her face.

He does not look away. **"I'm sorry,"** he says, but his features do not soften.

She doesn't take his sad excuse of an apology. Instead, she throws it back at him with the loudest wail she can muster. The boy hardly flinches. Her body shakes as she sobs -- **"I hate you, I hate you!"** -- and all she can think about is how she wishes it could be true. She wishes she could hate this thing, this person, this heartless body -- **"You monster, you killed him!"** -- that took her one-and-only-love away. But she can't - she just can't - no matter how hard she tries, because he looks ohsomuch like her Sora. She knows that with a little help, he could act like Sora, too.

(And in the most secret place in her mind, a girl that should have gone away but didn't is pining for this boy she wants to hate.)

In the middle of her tantrum - her stomping feet, pathetic sobs, and angry denials - a lesser nobody comes out of the darkness. It is a Dragoon, and before he can think it shoves its lance through the pretty (sadpatheticcryingbeautiful) girl screaming at him. His body acts without his mind and his not-heart's consent, and as she falls he rushes to catch her. He stops her body before it hits the ground, lays her down gently, and kills the Dragoon before it's ruler can sense what it has done.

Going back to the small girl, who is now profusely bleeding on the pavement of his dank desolate world, something in his chest unfurls. He remembers summer days on warm beaches, toes in the ocean as they sat on a dock with a whisper of _"Sora, don't ever change."_

But he had changed, and rapidly. He wasn't Sora, never was Sora, couldn't ever be Sora. Not for himself, not for the silver-haired boy who had come to retrieve him, and not even for this girl whose pretty red hair matched her pretty red blood. He picks her up, watches as water drips onto her face, and realizes that they are tears from his own eyes. He wonders why he cries, but doesn't dwell on it. He just knows that he can't let this girl die; not here, not now.

She smiles up at him through broken eyes, ignoring how much pain she's in. **"I lied, you know. I c-can't hate you, R-r-ro…"**

His eyes soften and he begins to panic as he kneels on the damp ground. **"No. Please don't, please don't."**

As she smiles up at him with her light fading, he can vaguely recall a memory (not his) of this girl dying in his arms -- _"K----, no! Please, no! You can't die, K----, you can't! You promised us, you promised!" _-- once before, because of him. He can't stand it anymore, and he cries out and lets the tears wash over him. **"NO! Stay with me, please. Stay with me…plea-"**

He's cut off by her falling limp, and he can't help but let her go. He holds her hand for a long time after laying her on the ground, repeating a mantra over and over again in his head. Too bad it can never happen.

"_**Kairi…stay with me. Stay w i t h m e . . ."**_

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

**OKAY! So this has been on the computer for a while. Just got around to going over it and getting it out there. Hope you like it, and I would love a review of any kind.**

**--Rissa**


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